Garmin

This is to follow up my earlier complaint about ****. They make GPS maps for places that are not otherwise covered by Garmin. Their product is incredibly difficult to download and to get transferred to your GPS device. Their technical support is abysmal! However, having said all that, having spent hours and hours struggling with the **** thing, the map itself of Antigua in the Caribbean is actually quite good. Is it worth the frustration however? Regrettably, no.

I have a Navigon 2100 that stopped working. Garmin now owns Navigon. Garmin says that there is no repair service for Navigon. They offered to sell me a Garmin for $99 in exchange for my old Navigon. I have over $300 in lifetime traffic, maps and Zaggat service. The Garmin they want to exchange does not have all of these lifetime maps, traffic and Zaggat. I am having to pay $99 to Garmin to send them a Navigon that has over $300 in lifetime services. That seems wrong that the Navigon cannot be fixed and that I have to pay Garmin $99 to loose over $300. How can I get the lifetime services if I send them my Navigon?

I have a Garmin GPS. "GPS Travel Maps" makes maps for some of the areas of the world for which Garmin doesn't offer maps. I purchased and downloaded the map of Antigua from them. I cannot get it to transfer onto my GPS. The instructions they give are abysmal. They make reference to buttons and display options that simply don't exist in the software.

I have exchanged over 15 emails with "Michael" from the GPS Travel Maps company. He simply responds saying things like: "Follow installation instructions." They use PayPal for their collections. I have filed a claim with PayPal and GPS Travel Maps is fighting my claim.

We have used a Garmin Nuvi 360 GPS for many years with no significant problems. But today, as we drove down Arizona Highway 67 to the north rim of Grand Canyon National Park, we encountered problems with the GPS routing that make us wonder how much to trust Garmin. For about 46 miles, we got at least 20 route misdirections, some to the left, some to the right, that tried to put onto unpaved National Forest roads, such as NF 610, leading from the highway. If we didn't make the turns, we received several "make a U-turn" instructions. It was as if a competitor of Garmin put in a bogus programming to make Garmin look bad! Our Garmin Nuvi has the latest software (CN North America NT 2011.40) and was set to avoid unpaved roads.

Had we followed the directions and the weather was bad or it was dark, we could have been in serious danger. In the news, we have heard of other drivers who have been injured or even perished from following GPS directions. Garmin needs to check its data relative to Arizona Highway 67 and issue a correction immediately.

Mary of Massillon OH (12/11/08)I thought my maps needed upgraded due to changes in roadways, detours, etc. Called Garmin for a download to my Garmin and they informed the download would cost $69.00. I felt this was more than necessary if anything should be charged at all. A new Garmin such as we have now would only cost a little over $100. and would be up to date. Supposedly!! I thing this is a big rip-off.Only damage here is my opinion of Garmin products. I probably will never buy that brand again. As a Sr. citizen, I felt rather safe having this guide, but now am thoroughly disappointed in that company.

Leslie of Lubbock TX (11/11/08)Purchased map TOPO US 2008 directly from Garmin. DVD is bad and Garmin refused to replace.cost of map software, about $140. unable to use new Garmin etrex Vista HCx, cost about $500.

OF REFURBISHED ONE DO I HAVE TO REGISTER IT AGAIN?? RMA #4787821

2. Dear spirituallyrefreshed1,

Please send me your new serial number and I will update your account.

With Best Regards,

www.garmin.com

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

4. Dear spirituallyrefreshed1,

Thank you for contacting Garmin International,

update software.

With Best Regards,

www.garmin.com

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

6. Dear spirituallyrefreshed1,

Thank you for contacting Garmin International,

Is there something wrong with the unit you received?

With Best Regards,

www.garmin.com

and is no fault of my own I send it in and I get back a refurbished one

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

8. Dear spirituallyrefreshed1,

Thank you for contacting Garmin International,

I am sorry you are not satisfied with this service. This is a standard

and updated and run like new.

With Best Regards,

www.garmin.com

9. is this refurbished device under warranty and for how old and i would like that in writing.

10. Dear Spirituallyrefreshed1,

Thank you for contacting Garmin International,

The replacement unit will carry out the original warranty. Let me know if you need further assistance.

With Best Regards,

Melissa O

Customer Service Representatve

Customer Service Team

Garmin International

913-397-8200

800-800-1020

913-397-8282 (fax) Att: Melissa O

www.garmin.com

the "GPS 18" I was told with my purchase I would get a free update. The update disk, which I have has stopped the whole system from working. Calling Garmin and talking with Jeff (tech-support), I was told that my problem was the "unlock code" which costs 75.00. Explaining that my update is free. Jeff said maybe we'll let you have it for half price. I asked for his supervisor and was told he was out. After calling the supervisor and leaving name and number on machine. Two hours later I receive a call from Mr West saying the best he could do was half-price. The Problem is I am entitle to the "update" there was no time limit discussed.

Now the problem is that my warranty has not ended yet and Garmin will NOT fix my item. I had called them twice and e-mailed them once regarding the item is not working due to the screen being out. It just went out one day. They said that the item is discontinued and they no longer have the parts for this item. But it is still under warranty. Later they said that they need a receipt for this item. But they work on this twice with out the receipt. They just changed there rules. What should I do? I had paid $600 for this item and had not even used it for a year. Please help me with this. Thank you for your attention.

I understand security is a must these days but this is pushing it a little bit to the extreme. I knew I would have to purchase a subscription of the downloads for the system and I am perfectly willing to do that. I feel that Garmin is only interested in selling new systems and don't really want them to be used by any one other than the original purchaser. I'm not out a lot of money but I really don't appreciate buying a perfectly good system with no way to know it is really worthless because of Garmin's inability to resolve the registration issue.

What do I have to do to receive proper customer service from Garmin? I have been trying to reach somebody over at "technical support" the last couple of days to no avail. I have left phone messages, emails, waited for more than thirty minutes over the phone and nothing. Do I have to contact the Better Business Bureau? Contact the news? What use is an expensive piece of equipment is there is no customer service or technical support when it ceases working? I think that after paying over $600.00 dollars for a GPS I am entitled to some service specially if its been less than a month after the purchase.

I am getting a "System Software Missing" message after updating the StreetPilot C340 GPS unit using the WebUpdater-What is this? I need to solve this problem yesterday. This is a new state of the art piece of equipment-what is the problem?

Before purchasing Garmin equipment check their customer service/ technical support. Do not take my word for it, call their technical support (before you buy) and check them out. Do it over a couple of days-the results will be the same-a freaking long wait! It makes you wonder several things: Are their products so bad that they are constantly inundated with calls? Do they have enough personnel to handle technical support? How many "technicians" do they actually have? I mean come on, for the prices they ask they should have an army of technicians.

It seams that a unit made in 2000 should still have support !!

Garmin is the manufacturer of Global Positioning (GPS) units for in flight navigation of aircraft.

In August 2003 I purchased a Garmin 196 hand held GPS which failed to operate after about two weeks. It was returned to the factory under warranty. I was later advised that software Version 2.07 had known flaws which could cause it to be subject to unpredictable random shutdowns.

The GPS was returned to me with software Version 3.10 which lacked some of the advertised route handling abilities.

Conversations with Ben Hunter at Garmin revealed that GPS units with various software versions experience differing problems were known to the company and still being released to the public although they say they have heard repeated complaints.

Ver. 2.07 - random GPS shutdowns for users on the East Coast due to known interference from European satelites.

Ver. 3.00 - loss of air navigation route segments during changes in magnification of the displayed map.

Ver. 3.10 & 3.20 lack some software for advertised route handling functions.

After repeated trips to the factory, Garmin assured me that a GPS unit would be sent with software resolving the above issues. Instead, by early October they returned another unit with defective 3.00 software. At this point they refuse to communicate with me further or even issue a Return Merchandise Authorization.